Cuba's first transgender athlete shows the progress and challenges faced by LGBTQ people

BY ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
Updated 12:02 AM CDT, June 29, 2024

HAVANA (AP) — Ely Malik Reyes stepped onto the cordless platform and began delivering powerful punches and spectacular flying kicks against his combatant. He lost the fight, but won a major victory that day by becoming the first transgender athlete to officially compete in a Cuban sports league.

Reyes, a 26-year-old transgender man, competed for the first time in the male 60/65-kilogram (132/143-pound) category of sanda, a demanding contact sport that blends martial arts like kung fu with kickboxing.

The June 1 milestone marked the latest step toward inclusion in Cuba, one of Latin America’s most progressive countries when it comes to LGBTQ rights. Yet, Reyes himself acknowledges having to overcome challenges, including the lack of medications, a law that sets conditions to change his gender on his ID and the “suspicious looks” he sometimes gets from people in the street.

“Educating society doesn’t happen in two days,” he said.

Reyes, who lives with his girlfriend in a colorful house on the outskirts of Havana, supports himself by repairing air conditioners, as his sanda fights are unpaid. He has been on hormone therapy for two years, but says he does not want full genital reassignment surgery.

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https://apnews.com/article/cuba-transgender-athlete-sanda-lgbtq-4cbcd583fd1d23bc93ec02a148b5e6f5